Introduction
The Raspberry Pi Magic Mirror is a customizable smart mirror. There are hundreds of different modules that can be installed to achieve the results you are looking for. Some of the most popular modules that caught my attention are the weather report, calendar and Alexa voice commands.
Items Needed
- Raspberry Pi Kit
- HDMI Cable
- SB MicroSD Card Reader
- MicroSD Card
- Raspberry Pi Computer
- Raspberry Pi Case
- Wireless Mini Keyboard
- Pi on/off Switch
- Quick Start Guide
- GPIO Header Quick Reference
- Computer mouse
- Computer Monitor
- Keyboard
- 12 in. x 24 in. two-way glass mirror
- HDMI (female) to VGA (male adapter)
- (2) 1 in. x 2 in. x 6 ft. Select Pine Board
- (1) 1 in. x 3 in. x 8 ft. Select Pine Board
- Wood Glue
Tutorials Used
The main website that I used to assist in building my Magic Mirror is :
I also used these two sites to help set up the Raspberry Pi for the first time and connect my PC to the Raspberry Pi via SSH for remote connectivity:
- https://readwrite.com/2014/01/20/raspberry-pi-everything-you-need-to-know/
- https://www.magicmirrorcentral.com/complete-raspberry-pi-magic-mirror-tutorial/
What does my Magic Mirror do?
My Magic Mirror can tell you the daily weather report, date, time and news.
Conclusion
I enjoyed the final outcome of my Magic Mirror project, however I ran into more hiccups than I anticipated along the way. The first hiccup was my screen did not have the required HDMI input, so I had to order a special adapter. That was easy enough.
The second hiccup was that the Raspberry Pi couldn’t recognize the mouse I was trying to use (it was corded but had a Bluetooth option too, which I think was causing an issue), but once I purchased a regular corded mouse I had no more issues with that.
The dimensions on the two-way glass mirror were not one of the common standard sizes so instead of purchasing a simple shadow box for my screen, I was stuck building my own frame/box. I haven’t had the opportunity to apply stain to the wood yet, but look forward to doing that so it matches my style.
I did have most of the items needed to create the magic mirror, however it did cost me about $200 out of pocket. That is the only thing I would recommend somebody know prior to considering this project.
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